UMass played for the national championship last season. The Minutemen were a gritty bunch last year, led by attackman Sean Morris, defender Jack Reid and faceoff man/pole Jake Deane, UMass caught fire in the playoffs and rode that momentum to the final game of the year. Virginia won that game and rightly so. The Cavaliers were the nation's best team last year.

The University of MassachusettsUMass goalie Doc Schneider made a name for himself at last year's final four in Philadelphia. He was just a freshman then. This year, Schneider will lead his Minutemen against the Orange on Saturday.

Now, the Minutemen are 5-6 and like Syracuse are facing the very real possibility that they won't qualify for the postseason. UMass lost last weekend to Georgetown. Check out the boxscore from that game.

But don't be fooled by mere records or statistics: UMass is very dangerous at home. The Orange has not won there since 2001, when it squeaked out a 9-8 victory. And we all remember 2005 -- the Minutemen beat SU to close out the season and then beat the Orange again to end the 22-game final four streak. Both of those games happened on Garber Field.

Nobody gets the student support that UMass gets. Student fans ring the field and shout all kinds of things to opposing players. They especially like to line the concrete stairs that visiting teams must ascend and descend just to get to the playing surface. The atmosphere is, at the very least, raucous.

And the Minutemen still have a goalie that can change the complexion of a game. Doc Schneider made a name for himself at last year's final four. He owns an 8.02 goals against average and a .575 save percentage. And I bet he really misses Reid, who was as good a cover defender as there was nationally last year.